Wednesday, 9 September 2015

With
the motto of providing food for education, The Akshaya Patra Foundation
expanded its operational reach as a NGO
in Chhattisgarh in January 2009. To provide mid-day meal in Chhattisgarh, the Foundation set up a centralised
kitchen unit at Bhilai. The cooked meal from this Akshaya Patra kitchen gets distributed among the government schools
in the vicinity in customised meal delivery vans. Akshaya Patra always strives
to provide clean, hygienic and nutritious meals to children. Due to this all Akshaya Patra kitchens follow standard
operating procedures comprising of personal hygiene, safety measures in food
handling right from procurement stage to delivery stage, post-delivery feedback
procedure and periodical audits by internal and external agencies. The Bhilai
kitchen of Chhattisgarh is one among the ISO 22000:2005 certified kitchens of
the Foundation.

Currently
as a NGO in Chhattisgarh, Akshaya
Patra feeds approximately 23,674 children across 160 government schools. These
children hail from the vicinity of the Bhilai kitchen. Considering the local
palate the menu items of the mid-day
meal in Chhattisgarh includes rice,dal(cooked pulses),kadhi(yogurt curry),khichdi(lentils rice), vegetable preparations
and more. The local palate of each region is taken care of the Foundation while
providing mid-day meal with the aim that children should enjoy the food. This
meal is one of the most crucial and vital meal for the beneficiaries as most of
them hail from the lower socio-economic strata and for them receiving one full
meal is itself a struggle. This is the reason many children opt to earning for
a square meal, but with the implementation of mid-day meals in schools, it acts
as an incentive for children to come to school. This incentive not only
nourishes their body with wholesome meal but also nourishes their minds with
rightful education.

Stories
of hope will bring across many anecdotes of beneficiaries from Chhattisgarh.
The common thread among all the stories is the staunch determination that is
ingrained in each beneficiary to achieve big in life. These beneficiaries dare
to aspire thereby overcoming their present unfavourable circumstance in life.
These anecdotes will also reveal how mid-day
meal in Chhattisgarh has helped children to receive
plateful of nutritious meal every day and how this meal has countered classroom
hunger thereby enhancing concentration levels among children.

Apart from serving
children as a NGO in Chhattisgarh,
Akshaya Patra also implements the mid-day meal programme in 23 more locations.
Approximately, 10,845 government schools in 10 states receive freshly cooked
nutritious meals each day from this NGO. In total, Akshaya Patra provides
mid-day meal to over 1.4 million children every day across India. The
determination and ‘can do’ attitude of these millions of beneficiaries are the
inspiration behind each of the Akshaya
Patra kitchen across the country. Be a part of this massive programme by
being a donor, volunteer, online supporter, blogger, photographer, fundraiser
etc. You can also partner with Akshaya Patra to fulfil your organisation’s CSR
initiatives. You can be a part in the service of children by getting involved with the
organisation.